Support Your Baby's Development With The Perfect Play Space

It doesn’t have to be the perfect, colourful, wooden toy filled play space that you see on Instagram. It doesn’t have to look ‘stylish’ but there are some tips to keep in mind when setting up your child’s play space that can really support their development to help them thrive!

Support Your Baby’s Development With the Right Play Space

1. Create Safe Baby Play Spaces for Independent Play

Try to make everything within the play space safe for your baby or toddler to play with independently. Constantly saying 'no' and removing things from your baby disrupts their play (and is frustrating for you). The whole house does not have to be safe for independent exploration but having a small area that is safe can help your baby develop some independent play skills without you hovering. If you’re not sure how to set this up, our therapy services in Perth can provide strategies tailored to your child’s needs.

2. Encourage Movement With Toys Beyond Baby's Reach

When we talk about keeping a toy out of reach, for a younger baby, this means keeping it low, but slightly out of their arms reach. For a mobile baby the toys might be in sight but out of physical reach. 

This works for two reasons:

• It provides an opportunity for your child to request the toy 
• It provides a reason to motivate your baby to MOVE to reach that toy. 

Think your baby is too young to make requests? Did you know you can support your baby to make request through choices right from birth. This is one of the best ways to support their language development by teaching them that they have the power to communicate their desires. So much more on this in our Walky Talky Baby Membership! Our therapy services also help parents encourage early communication in daily routines.

3. Simplify Your Baby Play Space Area: Less Is More

You don’t need to fill your play space with heaps of toys. For a young baby in particular, this can be very overwhelming. Rotate the toys your baby is playing with, keep some tucked away and only a small number out at a time. 

If you are also feeling overwhelmed with the number of toys and things your baby has our membership can help you keep it simple. We send fortnightly emails with specific tips about which toys will enrich your baby’s play, which skill they are supporting and which positions to play with them in to get the most out of them. Simple play is what we are ALL about! Parents in Perth can also book therapy services at Walky Talky Hub to learn how to simplify play in ways that support development.

4. Provide Baby Play Mat Time for Relaxation and Exploration

Remember for your young baby, the world is so exciting for them and they don’t need to have toys in front of them all the time to learn and develop. 

Provide a young baby time in a comfortable position on the mat (for example on their side or in a baby nest) and let them watch the world around them. This can be a good time for them to notice sounds, hear your voice as you’re walking around them and to discover their hands! Older babies will enjoy feeling their bodies move and often use toy free time to roll, creep or just chill and suck on their toes! Our therapy services often encourage this type of natural exploration as part of healthy baby development.

5. Adapt Your Baby Play Setup to Support New Skills

What is your baby currently working on?

Think about the skills they are mastering and just keep changing the space to match those skills.

For example if you’re working on tummy time, have your mat, wedge, roll etc set up on the floor, ready to quickly and easily access to add a couple of minutes of tummy time into that oh so short calm, alert awake window. Remember to check out our instagram page for inspiration on how to create a supportive tummy time setup for your baby.  Our Perth-based physiotherapy and speech pathology services can also guide you with tailored strategies for building gross motor and language skills at home.